The Australian Public Service (APS) is the Australian federal civil service, the group of people employed by federal departments, agencies and courts under the Government of Australia, to administer the working of the public administration of the Commonwealth of Australia. Many more public servants are employed by the various Australian states, territories and local governments.
Contents |
The Australian Public Service formally comprises all persons employed under the Public Service Act 1999. This includes all federal government departments, the federal court system and also some government agencies.
In the 2009—10 financial year, there were 164,596 public servants employed under the Public Service Act[1] This includes 150,871 ongoing (or permanent) employees and 13,725 non-ongoing (or contract) employees. The largest group of public servants are women (57.4%)[1] and work in the Australian Capital Territory (38.8%).[1]
The largest federal government agency is Centrelink with 27,312 employees, followed by the Australian Taxation Office (24,070) and the Department of Defence (21,458).[1]
The Government has appointed a "Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service" to whom is responsible the Public Service Commission, led by a Commissioner, which promotes the APS Values, evaluates performance and compliance, and helps to build the capability of the Service. The Commissioner has both statutory powers (under the Public Service Act 1999) and policy responsibilities.
The Government also recognises a role for the Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet for certain aspects of leadership of the APS.
Each Department is headed by a Secretary, and each independent authority by an appointed head, whose job description includes the administration of the people in that organisation.
APS jobs are advertised throughout Australia by various means, including publication in the Government Gazette and various newspapers.
"The Australian Public Service:
The head of an Australian Government Department is the Secretary - like a CEO in the private sector. Secretaries are the pivotal advisors to Ministers on government policy, and lead the executive of their Departments.
Deputy Secretaries (Dep Secs) are also part of Departmental executives. Deputy Secretaries hold the Public Service level of Senior Executive Service (SES) Band 3. A Department typically has between four and six Deputy Secretaries.
Deputy Secretaries directly supervise First Assistant Secretaries (FASes) (SES Band 2), each of whom oversees a Division of a Department.
Assistant Secretaries (ASes) (SES Band 1) manage Branches of Divisions.
Sections of Branches are headed by Directors (APS Executive Level 2), with the assistance of Assistant Directors (APS Executive Level 1).
Directors manage a group of departmental officers (levels APS 1 (being the lowest) to APS 6).
Concepts:
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||